(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Hastings was arrested at around 1:51-a.m. today (Tuesday), following a traffic stop in Montgomery County. The Sheriff’s Office reports 59-year-old Roy Thomas Barnes was pulled over in the 1000 block of Highway 34, and upon further investigation, was arrested for Possession of Methamphetamine/1st offense. Barnes was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond. The Mills County K9 Unit assisted during the traffic stop.

(Radio Iowa) – State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald says it’s time to do some personal reflection, and for the Democratic Party to do the same after he lost his re-election bid. Fitzgerald talked with Radio Iowa about the loss almost one week ago. “Well, I guess I was surprised after 40 years…I guess you’re surprised you think you can keep winning. But that’s politics. And sometimes the other team just gets more votes, and that’s what happened. So my career comes to an end the state treasurer,” Fitzgerald says. He says this was the one time he couldn’t overcome a Republican surge.

“There haven’t been any embezzlement’s and all our audits are clean. And the finances were handled well, you know, triple-A rating for the state and I-PERS is solid, and all those kinds of things. But anyway, this was a red wave in Iowa,” he says. The entire Congressional delegation is now Republicans and only one Democrat state officeholder hung on. Fitzgerald says that should lead to some examination by the Democrat party.

“Well, I think they need to do some reflecting and the party needs to know — I think — what are the mechanics they need to do to help develop a message and coordinate campaigns and help candidates all across the state whether it’s the legislature, running for city council, or governor,” he says. Fitzgerald says they also need to examine their party message. “And Democrats themselves need to talk to Iowans, and what do Iowans want to be done that will help make their lives better, and then try to provide it,” he says. Fitzgerald says he believes he served Iowans well in the position.

“I’m very proud of this since 2008, right in the financial crisis, from then on, the State of Iowa has had a triple-A rating. I’ve worked on that. And I’m proud of that,” Fitzgerald says. “But also, I’m proud that I-PERs the big pension plan as well as the others for the judges and peace offices, they’re solid as a rock. They’re not 100 percent — but they’re 90 percent funded, they are solid. Where other states are scrambling, not in Iowa, they’re solid.” He is particularly proud of programs he instituted, including the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt.

“Over 625-thousand Iowans have gotten money back that they thought was lost, we’ve returned it. And College savings Iowa — 280-thousand families have College Savings Iowa accounts. It works, it’s been a great benefit to Iowa families. And so those are the things I’ve developed and presented to the people of Iowa, and I know they’ve been a success. And I’m happy about that,” according to Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald says he will take some time to decide what is next.

“I’ll just do some reflecting myself as to what I can do. I’ve been very fortunate to enjoy good health and maybe there’s some things I can do and I’ll be given that some thought and besides just riding off into the sunset,” he says. But I’d like to stay involved some way and that I got plenty of time to think about it and figure that out.” Fitzgerald says between now and the end of the year he will work with his successor to provide all the information needed to make sure there’s a successful hand-off done in a professional way.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa is part of a multi-million-dollar settlement with Google on the way it tracks your personal information. Attorney General spokesperson, Ashlee Kieler says Iowa and 39 other states brought the claims. “This group of attorneys general alleges that Google violated state consumer protection laws by misleading consumers about its tracking practices,” she says. Kieler says the goal is to make it easier for users to understand what’s happening.

“Google has a couple of different ways that track you. There’s location history, but then there’s also this other setting within its web and app activity,” Kieler says. “And so it was a little confusing to confuse consumers, because location history is something that you turn off, it’s off automatically, but then this other piece — the web and app activity — you have to go in and manually take that off. So it was tracking consumers when they thought they weren’t being tracked.” Kieler says the company has agreed to make changes.

“Google is going to revamp some of its tracking practices, so it will show consumers additional information when they sign in. And so they’ll know more about what location tracking is on and off and how to do that,” Kieler says. She says they’ll also give more information on the type of tracking data they’re collecting and what they’re doing with that information. The states involved will receive nearly 392 million dollars from Google as part of the settlement. Iowa’s portion is nearly six-point-two million dollars, but Google users won’t see any of that money directly.

“That will go to our consumer education and litigation fund. Monies from many different supplements go to that fund, and it works to support investigations that our office does in education efforts, through our Consumer Protection Division,” she says. Kieler says this settlement makes a key statement about the public’s privacy. “It’s a very big settlement it is the largest privacy settlement the attorney general has been involved in. This is a really important matter, privacy is very important to consumers and our office. So we’re, we’re happy we’re able to, you know, make a pathway into this,” Kieler says.

Iowa is joined in the final settlement by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.